"This project is incompatible with the current version of Visual Studio"

Asked 23/12, 2012 at 12:24 Answered 24/11, 2022 at 6:4

107

I was getting the below message from Visual Studio 2010.

"This project is incompatible with the current version of Visual Studio"

One situation resulting in this error has already been posted here at Stackoverflow, but that question has been closed. I'm thinking it's a fairly generic problem. Since I have found a "solution", I'll post this question, and my solution as an answer.

Cellarer answered 23/12, 2012 at 12:24 Comment(3)

I'll just mention the situation where I encountered this error. I had downloaded the source for the Managed ESENT program, managedesent.codeplex.com . This contains a Visual Studio 2010 solution with 9 projects. Some of the projects target .Net 2.0, some .Net 3.5, and four projects target .Net 4.5. Opening the solution does not result in any error message, but the projects that target .Net 4.5 are shown in Solution Explorer as "(incompatible)". If you try to use Visual Studio 2010 to directly open one of these projects then you get the error message shown above. – Cellarer 23/12, 2012 at 12:37

possible duplicate of The error "This project is incompatible with the current version of visual studio" displayed – Krugersdorp 28/5, 2013 at 13:38

@JamesLawruk: Yes, it probably is a duplicate. But at the time I posted this question and answer the other question was closed. Later it was opened again, perhaps because I flagged it as being closed in error, can't remember now. – Cellarer 28/5, 2013 at 15:4

If the message

This project is incompatible with the current version of Visual Studio

is due to an attempt to open a project targeting .Net 4.5, then the "solution" or workaround is to edit the .csproj file and change the TargetFrameworkVersion from "v4.5" to "v4.0". That at least allows the project to be loaded, although it may result in compiler errors if the program is dependent on 4.5 features.

Cellarer answered 23/12, 2012 at 12:24 Comment(4)

Iv'e got the same issue but i can't seem to find any reference of TargetFrameworkVersion or v4.5 . Not in the .csproj file and not in the .sln file .. Any ideas ? – Transponder 25/1, 2015 at 21:22

@eranotzap: No, sorry. I'm guessing you're using a newer version of Visual Studio than 2010, which was the version with which I experienced this problem. – Cellarer 26/1, 2015 at 0:41

Yes i'm using VS 2012 and trying to load a project written in VS 2013 , And there doesn't seem to be a way of doing that for some reason.. – Transponder 26/1, 2015 at 6:33

-1. I had a project that was written for 4.0 and the target framework was 4.0 the whole time. It had worked, then I tried installing the OneClick Publishing Tools for VS 2015 and that's when I got the OP's error. So this part about switching versions in the .csproj is bogus, IMHO, even if it helped the OP. It won't help everyone - hence, I believe, the number of other answers on this thread. – Uncourtly 30/6, 2016 at 15:8

VS 2012 has different project type support based on what you install at setup time and which edition you have. Certain options are available, e.g. web development tools, database development tools, etc. So if you're trying to open a web project but the web development tools weren't installed, it complains with this message.

This can happen if you create the project on another machine and try to open it on a new one. I figured it out trying to open an MVC project after I accidentally uninstalled the web tools.

Dy answered 5/2, 2013 at 5:23 Comment(1)

I didn't install the web development component for VS due to which my web-application was failing to load. – Walkway 22/10, 2015 at 1:53

I just got the same error message with a couple projects after installing Visual Studio 2015 Update 3. For me, the solution was to install .NET Core

Manfred answered 30/6, 2016 at 14:48 Comment(5)

I am getting the same error after doing Update 3 but teh .NET Core install did not fix it. Just wondering if you also have the Xamarin components installed because this is what I suspect is the issue. – Mcguire 30/6, 2016 at 18:54

No, I do not have Xamarin components installed. – Manfred 30/6, 2016 at 20:0

Thanks. Like some of the other people here, when I added Xamarin tools, I either did not select the option for Microsoft Web Developer Tools or unchecked it by accident. I modified VS 2015 and added that and now the error is gone. – Mcguire 1/7, 2016 at 10:21

I think my case was different, because before installing Update 3, I needed .NET Core to fix an issue with the Visual Studio 2015 merge tool. So after installing Update 3, I also needed to update to latest .NET Core for it to work. – Manfred 1/7, 2016 at 13:7

For VS 2015 this seems to be the working solution now. At least it fixed my problems. – Other 3/8, 2017 at 12:13

In my case it was an incompatible Project Type. Editing project file and removing ProjectTypeGuids node resolved the issue of loading the project (I had already re-targeted the framework version as advised here).

Probably the project type is not supported in the (most likely) NEW version of VS, so you will have to adjust (update) the code to work properly (if possible), but at least you can see the content through VS.

Quipster answered 22/8, 2017 at 14:19 Comment(0)

I Resolved the issue by deleting the files in the below folder

%localappdata%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\ComponentModelCache

Source: https://forums.xamarin.com/discussion/70388/how-to-fix-incompatible-issue-after-visual-studio-2015-update-3

Kashmiri answered 23/2, 2019 at 10:17 Comment(1)

This solved it for me as having it in VS 2017 and I had added a .NET Standard project when the other projects were .NET Framework 4.6.1.. – Uphroe 15/7, 2020 at 18:29

As for me, I realized there was another web project in the solution that my VS2017 was loading fine, so I copied over the ProjectTypeGuids element of it over to the project that wasn't loading. Its diff was:

-    <ProjectTypeGuids>{E3E379DF-F4C6-4180-9B81-6769533ABE47};{349c5851-65df-11da-9384-00065b846f21};{fae04ec0-301f-11d3-bf4b-00c04f79efbc}</ProjectTypeGuids>
+    <ProjectTypeGuids>{349c5851-65df-11da-9384-00065b846f21};{fae04ec0-301f-11d3-bf4b-00c04f79efbc}</ProjectTypeGuids>

After this, it loads. Don't ask me why.

Yoder answered 16/6, 2017 at 5:29 Comment(0)

Go to tools -> Extensions and updates -> Online -> Search for project installer -> download

And relaunch Visual studio.

Minx answered 17/5, 2021 at 7:38 Comment(1)

Thanks. This fixes the problem in two of my projects. They are projects for making installers. I was upgrading them from VS 2008 with .NET 2.0 to VS 2017 with .NET 4.6, and I saw that same error message. Using your instruction, and then Reloaded the project into the solution, and the error went away. – Harveyharvie 1/12, 2021 at 16:58

If you are getting the same error for a project which is actually an extension (.vsix), installing Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 SDK does the trick.

Effective answered 14/1, 2014 at 10:38 Comment(0)

After installing Update 3 for Visual Studio 2015, I suddenly got the "This project is incompatible with the current version of Visual Studio" error message while opening my Cordova project (.jsproj Javascript project file)

To solve this:

Go to Programs & Features
Select the Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 installation and click Change
Click Modify
Install "HTML/Javascript (Apache Cordova) Update 10" of the Cross Platform Mobile Development section

Launcelot answered 28/10, 2016 at 6:37 Comment(0)

What most people forget it is that the files of visual studio are just text files, that have some peculiars configurations that will show to the program how to open it. that is, we can change this because it's just a text in some file in there in your project folders.

Well, knowing this, what we have to do is very simple!

The first step is knowing what kind of project it is this project that stay unload. (for example: Class Library)

The Second step is create a new one (Class Library) because you know that your visual studio will create a version supported by himself. Unload this one and click in "Edit csproj".

It's in this file that we can found the configuration that tell to VS how this proj will be loaded and his name is ProjectGuid, this serial number has a variation according the type and version of project.

Now, look at your "ok project", copy the "ProjectGuid" TAG, paste on csproj that unloaded, and pay attention to the little differences and make this files almost equals, except for the tags ItemGroup that represent the references of the project.

Doing that, save all files and close your VS and open again, now your project should load normally.

I hope that this informations help somebody to understand a bit more how the VS works and help solve the problems when necessary.

Countless answered 26/6, 2017 at 13:30 Comment(0)

For me, I got this same error in VS 2015 and just installed the VS 2015 update 1, though from another answer, VS is actually up to Update 3, now (after which, they got the error and had to install .NET Core). Had issues when it hit certain packages, like the Windows SDK ones, and had to point the installer back at the paths in my original CD, and for some, even that didn't work and had to skip them and re-download from an internet-connected computer, transfer them over, and run them later manually (computer was not connected to the internet to be able to download updated versions of the packages), but after doing all that and doing a reboot, the error was gone and my project loaded fine.

Uncourtly answered 30/6, 2016 at 15:1 Comment(1)

Someone downvoted this - care to explain? The answer is a description of what I did to get mine working - which was to either do Update 1 and skip and re-download the packages it complains about during installation, or do Update 3 and .NET Core. Because I didn't go to Update 3/.NET Core, it doesn't make this answer wrong. I just didn't want another huge pair of updates to install. The computer I do development on isn't internet connected - it's connected to another computer that is, with a 5 MB limit on transfers. For others with a similar predicament as me, it's the most viable option. – Uncourtly 14/8, 2017 at 16:19

I had this issue and after hours of uninstalling and reinstalling I found out the issue in my instance.

The reason why I got this was down to the fact that I didn't have the correct extension.

In my case the ASP.net project (my startup) was the incompatible project and this was because I didn't have the following:

Microsoft ASP.NET and Web Tools
Micrsoft ASP.NET Web Frameworks and Tools

It was a simple case of going into extensions and updates under the Tools menu

Shaven answered 18/8, 2016 at 20:54 Comment(0)

I had this error and found it was due to the presence an 'Import' XML tag inside the .csproj.user file. Once I removed it, Visual Studio could open the project again.

Unemployed answered 31/3, 2017 at 10:1 Comment(0)

I checked if i could create a new solution and was unable because SSAS,SSIS and SSRS weren't there as options.

I downloaded SSDT from here and installed and it worked...

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/ssdt/download-sql-server-data-tools-ssdt?view=sql-server-2017

Renegado answered 11/10, 2018 at 14:37 Comment(0)

In case you came here looking for the issue with ".smproj" file, it is because you are missing SQL Server Analysis Services(SSAS). To overcome this, install SQL Server Data Tools(SSDT) in your system, restart your Visual Studio and it will work.

Castroprauxel answered 13/4, 2020 at 13:51 Comment(0)

First check whether your Visual Studio version is 2012, 2015 or 2017 etc.
Your project is developed in 2015, but your Visual Studio 2012, then Visual Studio 2012 should not open the which are developed in Visual Studio 2015 projects.
If developed project Visual Studio 2012 and you have Visual Studio 2012, open the project but here need to check one option as per below

a. Target Framework - Open your project ".csproj" file with notepad++ and search with "TargetFrameworkVersion" and observe target framework value.

b. Open any existing project in your Visual Studio - Select project at 'Solution Explorer' - Right click - Properties - Application -Select Target Framework - Observe highest your framework which you have

c. 3.a and 3.b frameworks both are should same otherwise applications are not open

d. If your target framework less than the project framework should install the latest's

e. above options do not work just Simply have another option modify the "TargetFrameworkVersion" value in '.csproj' file which is have in your visual studio.

Ex: in my Visual Studio target framework 4.0 but in '.csproj' file have TargetFrameworkVersion - 4.5, You need just change 4.5 to 4.0 and open the project

Semiprofessional answered 24/11, 2022 at 6:4 Comment(0)

-1

This issue might be caused when using VS 2015 with Update 3 installed on one PC and without update 3 installed on another. This was the problem in my case.

Osset answered 17/7, 2017 at 18:6 Comment(0)

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